James Rispoli Headed To British Supersport Series

By Paul Carruthers | 12/4/2013 6:21 AM

Two-time AMA Supersport Champion James Rispoli is headed overseas, the former dirt tracker inking a deal to ride for rock star Keith Flint’s Team Traction Control in the British Supersport Championship with backing from Monster Energy.

In addition to selling over 20 million albums worldwide with his band The Prodigy, Flint is a club road racer and a huge racing fan. This year his team competed in the British National Superstock 1000 class with Steve Mercer with Rispoli joining the team for the final round of the series. The team will ride Suzukis.

"I am so excited to get the opportunity to race full time overseas and to do it in such a prestigious series as the British Superbike Championship is amazing,” Rispoli said. “I have had some experience of the events at the final Brands Hatch rounds over the past two seasons and now this is a chance to have a full season to prove what we are capable of. I know I will need to learn the tracks, but I think we can come to grips with that pretty fast and try and be pushing for some podiums and top positions throughout the season. I know it won't be easy, however, I'm confident my team will do whatever it takes to make sure we have the best prepped equipment and testing program to get the job done. I want to thank team owner Keith Flint for believing in me and making this dream come true. I can't wait to start testing on the track with the new bike, new crew and look forward to putting up a great result and an awesome show for all the fans."

The 22-year-old Rispoli finished seventh in his rookie season of AMA Daytona SportBike racing on the Celtic Racing/National Guard Suzuki team.

"The time is right now for us to move to this level and I am really excited by the whole thing,” Flint said. “I have been a fan of the championship for several years and that is the foundation of why I started a team in the first place. The feeling of this announcement is like the first time that the band played at Glastonbury; it is the big time. We have won back-to-back titles at club level in the endurance series and now it feels right to move to the next level. We want to be able to come out and fight for podiums, especially in this championship as I have followed it for over a decade. I have been a part of the paddock, watching the events, but now it feels great to be part of it, rather than a musician spectating trackside. I am very passionate about the sport and now we can't wait to get started next season."

Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America's Daily Motorcycle News Source.